letter to the editor

Thoughts on “A young man, adrift, hopes to return to the Catholic Church”

Posted

To the editor:

In response to Father John A. Kiley’s brilliant article: “A young man, adrift, hopes to return to the Catholic Church” I’d like to pose a question to everyone who read the article: What was your reaction? If your reaction simply put a smile on your face or a chuckle, and you turned the page to continue reading the RI Catholic without contemplating the article I believe you missed the point.

Jesus instructs each of us to leave the 99 sheep in order to search for the missing one.

In 2007, we are far removed from the days of having 99 out of 100 sheep following the Good Shepherd, and the examples Father. Kiley provided us clearly illustrates the state of our holy Roman Catholic Church. If I had to come up with numbers, out of 100 Roman Catholics, I’d say we have 45 following the Good Shepherd and 55 scattered all over the place. What would Jesus want us to do? Every Catholic deacon, priest, and Bishop in this diocese ought to be able to come up with responses to the characters in Father Kiley’s story, because they are the majority of Roman Catholics in 2007. However, it should be noted, the responsibility to seek the lost sheep should not solely remain to the ordained clergy as every baptized Roman Catholic has a role to play in searching for the lost sheep to bring home.

Robert Paliotta Jr

Johnston, R.I.